Kolkata – India Newshttp://indiyanews.com
News That Touches Life!!Thu, 24 May 2018 07:16:52 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.5Hundreds of miners trapped in India after huge power failurehttp://indiyanews.com/2012/07/hundreds-of-miners-trapped-in-india-after-huge-power-failure/
http://indiyanews.com/2012/07/hundreds-of-miners-trapped-in-india-after-huge-power-failure/#respondTue, 31 Jul 2012 11:22:21 +0000http://www.indiyanews.com/?p=13158Kolkata: Hundreds of miners were trapped Tuesday in Burdwan district of West Bengal after a massive power failure knocked out electricity supplies in half of the country, the chief minister of West Bengal state Mamata Banerjee said.

“We are trying to rescue the coal miners. All efforts are on to resume power supplies. You need power supplies to run the lifts in the underground mines,” Ms Banerjee told reporters in the state capital Kolkata.

She said there were “hundreds” of miners trapped in Burdwan, which is about 180 kilometres (110 miles) northwest of Kolkata, where mines are operated by the government-owned Eastern Coalfields Ltd.

]]>http://indiyanews.com/2012/07/hundreds-of-miners-trapped-in-india-after-huge-power-failure/feed/0Presidential elections: Sangma meets Mamata but, fails to get commitment for supporthttp://indiyanews.com/2012/06/presidential-elections-sangma-meets-mamata-but-fails-to-get-commitment-for-support/
http://indiyanews.com/2012/06/presidential-elections-sangma-meets-mamata-but-fails-to-get-commitment-for-support/#respondWed, 27 Jun 2012 06:06:01 +0000http://www.indiyanews.com/?p=12510June 27, Kolkata: Presidential candidate P A Sangma met West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee at the state secretariat on Tuesday. She greeted Sangma with a smile and folded hands but was non-committal about her party’s support. Sangma termed the meeting as “very good” and said he was leaving Kolkata with a “lot of hope”. Mamata told him that a decision on supporting him would be taken after discussions in the party.

“I came here to request her to support my candidature in the President’s election. Bhalo alochona hoyechhe (We had constructive talks). I am very happy with the outcome,” Sangma said.

“I am going back with a lot of hope for the President’s election from the Trinamul Congress and Mamata Banerjee. In 2004, when I quit the NCP, Mamata-di had supported me. I expect she would help me this time also,” He added before leaving the state secretariat.

Railway Minister and Trinamool general secretary Mukul Roy said the party was in no hurry to announce its stand.”Sangmaji has asked for our support. After discussing the matter within, we will announce our stand at the right time and inform him. There is still a lot of time left. So there is no need to hurry,” said Roy.

But, the Trinamool camp is mulling the idea of abstaining from voting without assuring any support to the former speaker of the Lok Sabha.

“We don’t have any problem with the Sangma but the political situation is such we cannot go with a BJP candidate. That will be suicidal. We preferred not to go with the UPA candidate nor can we go with the NDA nominee. We are left with no choice actually,” a senior Trinamool Congress leader told Deccan Herald on condition of anonymity.Sangma, who aspires to be first tribal President of the country, has, apart from the BJP, managed to garner support from regional parties like the AIADMK and the Biju Janata Dal but together these parties do not have the numbers in the electoral college to swing the result in Sangma’s favour.

]]>http://indiyanews.com/2012/06/presidential-elections-sangma-meets-mamata-but-fails-to-get-commitment-for-support/feed/0Presidential election: Will respect Congress’s decision, says Mamata Banerjeehttp://indiyanews.com/2012/06/presidential-election-will-respect-congresss-decision-says-mamata-banerjee/
http://indiyanews.com/2012/06/presidential-election-will-respect-congresss-decision-says-mamata-banerjee/#respondMon, 11 Jun 2012 06:15:40 +0000http://www.indiyanews.com/?p=12216June 11, New Delhi: Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has conveyed that she isn’t opposed to any candidate and it’s up to the Congress to decide. Banerjee, who has not specified any candidate for the post so far, has indicated her support reportedly after the Congress party unit in West Bengal appealed to the Trinamool Congress to support Mukherjee’s candidature.

However, the Congress itself has still to decide whom to nominate. The Congress Working Committee had recently voted to let party president Sonia Gandhi choose the party’s candidature for the post.

Meanwhile, West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra is in Delhi and will be at the Union Finance Ministry on Monday to hold talks on a financial package for the state. The outcome of the talks, however, could seal Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s Presidential poll chances.

The Finance Minister says rules don’t allow him to provide special treatment to any state; also the current economic situation has left little cash to spare.

However, the TMC chief has refused to accept the Centre’s view, pressurising it to clear the financial package if it aims to seek support for Mukherjee’s candidature.

The Congress, meanwhile, urged Mamata yesterday to support Mukherjee for Rashtrapati Bhawan.

Congress leader and minister in West Bengal Manas Bhuniya said, “I would like to appeal to the top leader of the Trinamool Congress that she support Pranab babu if he is made the candidate for the President post by our party High Command.”

Also yesterday, UPA’s key ally NCP said it would back the ruling alliance’s Presidential nominee even as a senior Union Minister said the Congress leadership will build “maximum” consensus among the coalition partners.

There is speculation that the Congress leadership has discussed Mukherjee’s name with its allies such as DMK, RLD and NCP and that he appeared to be having the support of all of them.

Meanwhile, the Opposition has also not yet arrived at a consensus on a candidate for the President’s post. Last week, former Lok Sabha Speaker and NCP leader PA Sangma met BJP leader LK Advani to seek the party’s support for his candidature.

Sangma’s candidature has been endorsed by BJD chief Naveen Patnaik and AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa. However, the BJP has said that it will arrive at a consensus after consulting all its allies.

]]>http://indiyanews.com/2012/06/presidential-election-will-respect-congresss-decision-says-mamata-banerjee/feed/0Petrol price hike: Bharat bandh hits normal life.http://indiyanews.com/2012/05/petrol-price-hike-bharat-bandh-hits-normal-life/
http://indiyanews.com/2012/05/petrol-price-hike-bharat-bandh-hits-normal-life/#respondThu, 31 May 2012 05:19:30 +0000http://www.indiyanews.com/?p=12044May 31, New Delhi: Normal life across the country was hit on Thursday as Opposition parties and some partners of the ruling UPA have called for nationwide bundh in protest against the steep hike in petrol prices.

The Bharat bundh has the support of the allies of the United Progressive Alliance such as the Trinamool Congress and DMK as well as the Opposition parties such as BJP and its supporting parties in the National Democratic Alliance, Left parties etc. Almost all the Central trade unions have given call for strike.

Violence has bewn reported from Pune and Satara, with several buses damaged, while Samajawadi Party workers have blocked train tracks in Lucknow, with its student wing stopping an express train en route to Allahabad. Other factions of the party have stopped three train services in Varanasi as well.

The Bandh is particularly effective in Gujarat, which has a BJP led government. The state has seen a complete shut down of all public transport services and reporters in the area say life there is at a complete standstill. The BJP are also holding protest rallies in Ahmedabad with workers also staging a sit in outside the Ahmedabad stock exchange.

In Delhi, the auto-rickshaw strike against CNG price hike by the Delhi government was also affecting the commuters. The auto rickshaw unions have also joined the bandh with 55,000 autos and 15,000 taxis expected to stay off the road. The BJP workers also stalled traffic at the Akshardham road in the capital.

In West Bengal, the supporters of the 12-hour bandh called by the NDA blocked roads in some districts and also squatted on railway tracks. Bandh supporters blocked the Howrah bridge, which connects the metropolis to the Howrah district. They also blocked roads at Chapadali more in Barasat, in Bankura district, Budge Budge and some other places, police said.

Similar pictures were seen in some parts of Mumbai too, especially in the Shiv Sena strongholds. The party’s workers are expected to come out on the streets to hold rallies. The city’s dabbawalas, too, will be join in and won’t be delivering tiffins.

But public transport won’t be affected as autos, taxis, BEST buses and railway unions have decided not to join the bandh in Mumbai. Five buses were stone pelted in Nagpur.

Apart from the NDA, Anna Hazare, too, has called on all his supporters to join the strike. The NDA and the Left called for a nationwide bandh after the government raised petrol prices by Rs 7.50 per litre.

]]>http://indiyanews.com/2012/05/petrol-price-hike-bharat-bandh-hits-normal-life/feed/0Hillary Clinton praises Mamata for ending the Communist rulehttp://indiyanews.com/2012/05/hillary-clinton-praises-mamata-for-ending-the-communist-rule/
http://indiyanews.com/2012/05/hillary-clinton-praises-mamata-for-ending-the-communist-rule/#respondFri, 11 May 2012 07:06:04 +0000http://www.indiyanews.com/?p=11680May 11, Kolkata: Terming her trip to Kolkata as remarkable, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was all praise for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee saying despite being a women she successfully ended 34-year-old Left rule in the state.

Clinton was on a 3-day visit to India from May 7. This was the first-ever visit by a US Secretary of State to Writers’ Buildings to hold a meeting with a chief minister. In her keynote address after receiving Century Award at the New York Women’s Foundation Breakfast, Clinton termed her trip to Kolkata as remarkable.

“I went last week to West Bengal in East India and had two remarkable experiences- meeting the newly elected chief minister, a woman, who on her own started a new political party and built that political party over many years, and just successfully ousted Communist Party that had been in office for 30, 34 years or so, and who is trying now to govern a state with 90 million people in it,” Ms Clinton said.

Ms Clinton also referred to a meeting she had with a group of women in Kolkata.

“I met with a group of women, mostly Indian, some American, who, along with some of the men who were running organisations to rescue girls from having been trafficked into prostitution and I met some of the girls and the young women, and their stories sounded remarkably like the ones we heard this morning.

“And in particular, the very last line of one of our last presenters that change takes time and love makes the difference,” she said.

“So when I was introduced to a young girl, probably about 10, who had, with her mother, been rescued from a brothel, who was dressed in her karate outfit and she asked me, ‘Do you want to see me do karate’ I said, ‘I really do’.”

Ms Clinton said amidst laughter and applause as she referred to the conversation she had with a young girl at that meeting.

]]>http://indiyanews.com/2012/05/hillary-clinton-praises-mamata-for-ending-the-communist-rule/feed/0Maoists release Sukma collectorhttp://indiyanews.com/2012/05/maoists-release-sukma-collector/
http://indiyanews.com/2012/05/maoists-release-sukma-collector/#respondThu, 03 May 2012 12:15:38 +0000http://www.indiyanews.com/?p=116063 May,DNA Raipur: Collector of Sukma district in Chhattisgarh, Alex Paul Menon, was released by Maoists on Thursday. Menon was handed over to Professor G Hargopal and BD Sharma, the two mediators handpicked by the insurgents, at a secret location in Tarmetla jungle, deep inside the ‘Red Zone’ 500 kilometres from Raipur.

Ending 12 days of uncertainty, the mediators walked out of the jungle with Collector at around 3.45 pm today,reports said. Tarmetla is situated in an area which is completely dominated by the red insurgents – Maoists had killed 76 paramilitary personnel in April 2010 at the same spot.

Professor Hargopal and BD Sharma along with Menon boarded a car from Tarmetla and are now on their way to Chintalnar. The Chhattisgarh government has made all arrangements to bring out Menon safely from the jungles; an ambulance has also been stationed at Chintalnar to meet any possible emergency as he is an asthmatic.

However, an official confirmation of his release is awaited.

From Chintalnar they will board a helicopter to Jagdalpur and may even proceed to Raipur today itself. Menon was under the captivity of Naxals since May 21, when he was kidnapped from a public function in near Sukma.

The breakthrough to ensure the safe return of Menon came in the form of an agreement between the two mediators each of the Chhattisgarh government and the Maoists at their fourth round of talks on April 30.

Under the agreement, the government had agreed to set up a high-powered committee under the chairmanship of Nirmala Buch, one of the two Government mediators, to review the cases of all prisoners languishing in Chhattisgarh jails including the cases demanded by the Maoists.
News Gathered by India News

Ambikesh Mahapatra, a teacher in the chemistry department of the Jadavpur University, was attacked by Trinammol Congress workers on Thursday night when he was returning home.

Prof Mahapatra was allegedly arrested for forwarding “derogatory images” of the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee to many recipients and mocking Trinamool government’s policies.

Police have charged Ambikesh Mahapatra with cyber crime offences.

Prof Mahapatra would be produced in the Alipore court later today.

News from TOI

]]>http://indiyanews.com/2012/04/jadavpur-university-professor-arrested-over-anti-mamata-cartoons/feed/0Mamata Banerjee dares Congress to pull out of state govthttp://indiyanews.com/2012/01/mamata-banerjee-dares-congress-to-pull-out-of-state-govt/
http://indiyanews.com/2012/01/mamata-banerjee-dares-congress-to-pull-out-of-state-govt/#respondSun, 08 Jan 2012 04:56:37 +0000http://www.indiyanews.com/?p=11491KOLKATA/NEW DELHI: The Congress-Trinamool Congress alliance continued with its downward spiral on Saturday as West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee challenged her ally the UPA lead player to walk out of the state coalition in the state and accused it her ally of working in league with her Marxist rivals.

“The Congress and CPM are working together. If Congress decides to work with the CPM, the door is open… Trinamool Congress won’t be with it (Congress),” Banerjee said in Kolkata.

She said Trinamool had fought alone during the anti-land acquisition stir in Singur and Nandigram and can do so again. The Congress found it hard to swallow Banerjee’s taunt, but while party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi did assert that the party will not be intimidated by any one, – either in states or the Centre – his approach was conciliatory. Resisting the temptation to lash back, Congress said coalition frictions would be resolved “ultimately”.

Meanwhile, And while Banerjee was taking on the Congress, the BJP said NDA’s doors the National Democratic Alliance’s doors had not been shut on Mamata, an offer Congress said was a bid to fish in troubled waters. However, BJP’s comment added to the turbulence.

While a breakpoint may not be imminent, the wobble in ties has created uncertainties and suspicions that can lead to accidents. The Trinamool leader’s take-it-or-leave-it manner has left the Congress chafing and even more determined to reduce its dependence on its tempestuous ally once assembly polls in five states are out of the way.

In her latest broadside, Banerjee charged that the Congress had “trapped and tortured” members of Trinamool’s youth wing at a college and compared that act to CPM’s strong-arm tactics in the past. “This is how SFI established its hegemony,” she said.

And while Banerjee was taking on the Congress, the BJP said the National Democratic Alliance’s doors had not been shut on the Trinamool. Congress promptly decried the comment as BJP’s attempt to fish in troubled waters, but the BJP’s comment only added to the turbulence.

The war of words between the Congress and the Trinamool is escalating with efforts to douse tempers clearly not working. State Congress leaders are hitting out at Banerjee and this is leading to the mercurial leader landing counter punches on her ally leading to speculation that the alliance is fraying and beyond repair.

The “walk-out” invitation held out by Banerjee is part of a fierce turf war that Trinamool insiders say is unlikely to subside. The Trinamool chief is keen to establish unchallenged dominance in West Bengal and wants to squeeze Congress out of the frame as any sort of “third force”. Congress would have to accept a totally subservient situation in the Trinamool scheme of things.

There is a view in the Congress that it might be wiser not to rise to the Trinamool bait, till the assembly polls in five states are over after which the UPA lead player hopes to add an ally like Samajwadi Party with 22 MPs to its ranks in the Lok Sabha. This would cushion the Congress against the Trinamool’s tantrums and allow it some headroom on policy.

Banerjee’s aggression is also seen by some as premature as the state needs sustained assistance from the Centre to get over serious deficiencies in crucial governance areas. The state’s fiscal health is precarious and a helping hand is much needed to set right the decades of neglect the CM has herself spoken on when referring to the Left rule.

Yet, Banerjee is keen to ensure her writ runs in the state while the Centre too is vulnerable to her interventions. Her populist approach in opposing fuel hikes, foreign investment in multi-brand retail and the Teesta water agreement with Bangladesh present serious hurdles for UPA-II that is now keen to prepare for the 2014 parliamentary polls.

Efforts to argue that Banerjee must concentrate on governance issues as she will be held increasingly accountable once the Left’s tenure grows more distant have not made much of an impact with her so far. She remains in a combative mood with Marxists as well as her ally, seeking to emboss her seal on politics. Some feel that the winner-take-all approach does not sit at ease as political contexts, even in West Bengal, are not immune to change.

Banerjee blamed Congress for the trouble at a South Dinajpur college on Friday. “Let me tell you those who confined the college principal at Gangarampur in South Dinajpur, a day after the Raigunj incident, was led by a Congress councilor,” she said.

Leader of the Opposition and former CPM minister Surjya Kanta Mishra rubbished her allegation about an understanding with the Congress. “It is a baseless charge. The Congress and the Trinamool Congress keep blaming each other as CPM’s B team. Why isn’t the Trinamool Congress pulling out of the UPA government at the Centre? I want to ask the CM about the person who surrendered to the Raigunj court on Saturday. He was the Trinamool’s district working president,” said Mishra.

Banerjee said the Congress was trying to “build a mountain out of a molehill” because the Trinamool had opposed the fuel price hike, FDI in multi-brand retail and the Lokpal Bill. “You are aware that coal price was hiked by 25%. This will impact electricity tariff. I have been opposing it, but I can’t do it alone. The Trinamool Congress is in power with the people’s support in Bengal. The party can’t be belittled by conspiring with the CPM,” Banerjee said.

Taking a dig at Congress leaders protesting against the Trinamool, she said, “Is the Congress scared of our party’s decision to contest assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh and Manipur?”

Trinamool on Saturday held a rally at West Midnapore’s Netai, where nine people were killed last January allegedly by goons backed by the CPM. Speaking to the gathering over phone, Mamata alleged the Congress and the CPM were giving shelter to harmads (armed CPM cadres). “They are coming in the way of work when the Trinamool-led government is trying to push for development in the region,” she said.

]]>http://indiyanews.com/2012/01/mamata-banerjee-dares-congress-to-pull-out-of-state-govt/feed/0Congress colluding with CPI(M) to attack TMC: Mamatahttp://indiyanews.com/2012/01/congress-colluding-with-cpim-to-attack-tmc-mamata/
http://indiyanews.com/2012/01/congress-colluding-with-cpim-to-attack-tmc-mamata/#respondTue, 03 Jan 2012 15:08:00 +0000http://www.indiyanews.com/?p=11467Kolkata: As the Congress in West Bengal on Tuesday threatened to intensify its agitation over the proposed renaming of Indira Bhavan at Salt Lake, Trinamool Congress Chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged the Congress was colluding with the CPI(M) to attack her party.

“In West Bengal, the CPI(M) and the Congress are working together. Our partymen are being attacked at places like Keshpur and Garbeta,” Banerjee said while reacting to protest-agitations by Congress workers over the Indira Bhavan issue.

Congress Spokesperson Manish Tewari retorted to Mamata’s comment and said, “Don’t understand context of statement. The Congress in alliance with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in Delhi and the Centre but its true in past because of congruence of secular forces Left and Congress were once together.”

The government has proposed to rename Indira Bhavan, where late prime Minister Indira Gandhi stayed during the 1972 AICC session and hence the name, after rebel poet Kavi Nazrul Islam.

Banerjee, the state’s chief minister, alleged the Congress cadres were carrying out a campaign of vilification.

”Some men of the Congress are carrying out campaign on the Indira Bhavan issue. They (Congress) are blocking roads and railway tracks daily and abusing me daily. But I have not uttered anything against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or against Sonia Gandhi,” she said.

The Left, meanwhile, has hit back at Mamata saying it is her government and not their government that is driving West Bengal into debt.

Former West bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee accused the TMC government of leading the state into a financial mess. He said the Mamata government has taken loans three times more than those taken by the previous Left government.

He also criticised the government for hiking salaries of ministers at a time when the state coffers are empty.

Banerjee pointed out that the building was a state guest house where the late Marxist leader Jyoti Basu had stayed for more than a decade till his death.

Congressmen were now agitating, but they were silent when the house was used as a CPI(M) party office when Jyoti Basu was staying there, she reminded Congress, Trinamool’s ally in the government.

Her party was “respectful” to Indira Gandhi and the Trinamool Congress-led Kolkata Municipal Corporation had erected the former prime minister’s statue at a prominent place in the metropolis, she said.

”After the CPI(M) returned the building to the government following Jyoti Basu’s death, six government departments wanted to use the building. But we said a Nazrul academy would be set up instead,” she said.

She said it would house a museum on the poet and also Indo-Bangla Friendship Foundation.

”Nazrul had gone over to Bangladesh because he did not get his due recognition here. This is our shame. I think this academy would strengthen the friendship betweeen India and Bangladesh.”

West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president Pradip Bhattacharya earlier on Tuesday said that the Indira Bhavan issue involved sentiments of the party’s workers.

Bhattacharya was speaking during an agitation staged by the Youth Congress, led by party MP Mausam Noor, on the issue near Birla Planetarium in south Kolkata.

He, however, expressed hope that the Mamata Banerjee government would desist from the move to rename the Indira Bhavan, saying, ”If this is not done, we shall intensify our agitation statewide.”

He said that mere assurance by Mamata Banerjee not to go ahead with renaming the Bhavan would not do; the Congress wanted a ‘written’ assurance.

August 20 (The Hindu) Major rivers in State continue to flow above red mark

The rain-related death toll in West Bengal climbed to 47 even as major rivers continued to flow above the red mark and new areas were flooded.

The floods have affected 29.6 lakh people in 15 districts covering 251 blocks. Nine new areas have got inundated, a government release said. Over 1,66,219 houses have been damaged in the rains and the consequent floods.

Relief

While relief camps were being run in the flood-affected districts by the State government as well as the various relief agencies, including the Ramakrishna Mission, the Animal Resource Development Department has opened cattle camps for treating and vaccinating livestock. Mobile water treatment plants were being run by the Public Health Engineering Department while the Health and Family Welfare Department was taking action to guard against the spread of any water-borne diseases.